Apiarian Exhibits at Fairs. 149 



help benefiting the exhibitor as well as the pursuit. Honey to be sold 

 at fairs ought to be put up in small packages. It may be difficult to 

 put it up in packages so small as to be sold at five cents each, but I 

 believe it has been done, while there is no difficulty in putting honey 

 in packages that may be sold for 10 or 25 cents each. People at fairs 

 don't wish to be burdened with heavy or bulky packages, and the honi;y 

 must be put up in such shape that it can be eaten on the grounds or 

 else carried in the pocket or hand-bag with no danger of leakage. I 

 remember that, one year at the Michigan State fair, Mr. H. D. Cut- 

 ting sold nearly $40 worth of honey put up in pound and half-pound 

 square glass bottles and in small glass pails. One year, at the Detroit 

 Exposition, at least 1500 pounds of "honey jumbles" were sold at a 

 cent apiece, by three exhibitors in the bee and honey department. These 

 jumbles are made with honey instead of sugar, and, for this reason, 

 retain the desired amount of moisture for a long time. In selling them 

 at a fair, a box of them is opened, placed on the counter, and tipped 

 slightly outward so that visitors can easily look into it. The cakes 

 are round, with a hole in the middle, and the upper side is of a golden 

 yellow,"*with a sort of granular appearance that is very inviting. This 

 side of the cakes is turned uppermost. Paper sacks are filled with 

 cakes, putting five in a sack, and a neat placard announces : "Honey 

 Jumbles, Made with Honey Instead of Sugar. Five in a Sack, and 

 Five Cents a Sack." Another thing that may be sold at an apiarian 

 exhibit with even greater profit than the honey jumbles is honey lem- 

 onade — if the weather is hot; if it isn't, there is no use of attempting 

 its sale. Here is the way to make it: Into 12 quarts of water squeeze 

 the juice of 12 lemons; add 2 pounds of basswood honey and a teacup- 

 ful of sugar. Basswood honey, being of such a strong flavor, gives 

 more of a honey flavor. Keep the lemonade cool with ice in some 

 large vessel. I used a stoneware churn. Keep on the counter a glass 

 pitcher filled with lemonade, putting in small pieces of ice, also a few- 

 slices of lemon. Then have a placard read : "Honey Lemonade. Most 

 Delicious Drink on the Grounds. Only Five Cents a Glass." I have 

 sold as high as $20 worth of this in one hot afternoon, and the profits 

 are at least three-fourths. Such exhibitions and sales certainly do the 

 pursuit of bee-keeping no harm, while they bring a profit to the ex- 

 hibitor. 



Neither ought the social feature to be overlooked. Every bee- 

 keeper attending the fair hunts up the "Bee and Honey Department," 

 and only one who has been at an exhibition knows of the many new 

 acquaintances thus formed, and the old ones that are renewed. It is 

 well to have one day set apart as "Bee-keepers' Day," giving the date 

 in advance in all of the bee journals, then all bee-keepers will be pres- 



